There have been plenty of great guarantees in the history of professional sports. Joe Namath declaring that the upstart New York Jets would defeat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Mark Messier's 1994 assurance that the New York Rangers would defeat the New Jersey Devils in Game 6. Babe Ruth calling his shot. It takes a rare kind of confidence to announce a win before it happens.
Anthony Edwards doesn't exactly lack confidence. The bombastic young superstar leading the Minnesota Timberwolves on their quest for their first championship looked certain to reach the Western Conference Finals after taking a 2-0 lead on the defending champion Denver Nuggets. Those Nuggets proceeded to win three games in a row to take a 3-2 series lead, but after Game 5, Edwards declared that the series was not over. In an exchange with a Nuggets staffer, Edwards was reported to have said "See you for Game 7." This was, in essence, a guarantee of a Game 6 victory in Minnesota.
Fast forward two days, and that's what happened. The Timberwolves ran the Nuggets off of the floor in Game 6 with a 115-70 victory. The series will indeed return to Denver for a Game 7 on Sunday, and when Edwards was asked about his prediction, he confirmed it as only he could.
“I told them I’ll see ya’ll motherfuckers for game seven” pic.twitter.com/rJ4OYXitmL
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) May 17, 2024
"I told them I'll see ya'll motherf****** for Game 7," Edwards declared. Of course, the hard part comes now. Home teams have won just under 77% of Game 7s in NBA history, but in this series, the Timberwolves have a 2-1 edge in games played in Denver. Part of what makes home teams so successful in Game 7s is the atmosphere of their fans helping in high-pressure moments.
A quote like that suggests that Edwards won't be shaken by 20,000 screaming fans. In fact, his road numbers this postseason have been sensational. He is averaging 32.8 points on over 54% shooting in five road games this postseason. He was awfully confident that Minnesota would get to this point. Now, it's up to him to take them one step further and eliminate the Nuggets once and for all.
